Monday, February 26, 2007

Tina has now completed the Roses in the Boatmans Cabin. She still has some of the small Castles to do, but she will do these once Hadar is in the paintshed.Roger has now lined and framed the galley side doors. This now completes the major carpentry in the fore cabin. The galley side doors are for ventilation and light only, there is no physical access through them as they are above the galley worktops.

Galley Side Doors.

Roger has tiled the toilet floor and has started tiling the cubicle walls. He will leave the grouting until she is brought out of the paintshed, as craning her in and out could cause the grout to fall out. This cannot be avoided with a full length boat with an open hold, there will be a lot of flexing when she is craned out. In future we will only be able to dry dock her for maintenance purposes.Tina has undercoated the engine room, and this is now ready for the gloss coats to go on, the upper walls will be cream and the lower walls green to match the engine colour. Tina is off next week, but upon her return the following week they hope to put Hadar in the paintshed, providing everything is completed that Roger wants done before she goes in there. It could be a busy week for him next week!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Tina started painting the Castles in the Boatmans Cabin. She did 3 to begin with, the one on the table and the 2 on the cupboard doors over the bed'ole. I was very priviledged to be allowed to sit in at each stage to take photographs, always trying to make sure I did not get in Tina's way.

Sky and water is added first.

Once the basic castle and surrounding area is sketched out with a pencil, Tina then began adding the paint. The sky was the first to go on, blending blue and white . Tina then added the water. I found it fascinating to watch how the picture is built up.

Grass and Mountains added.

Once the water and sky were dry, it was then time to add in the mountains and grass, again blending in different colours.

Castles.

At each stage the paint is allowed to dry before heading to the next stage. Once the grass was dry, Tina then began adding the paint for the castles. It is a real skill to paint free hand like this and very impressive to watch. What I find amazing is that each castle and picture although similar is not identical and that is what makes each picture unique to each boat painter.

Fine details being painted in; grass, plants and swans.

I dare say a lot of people look at the castles on boats but never really appreciate how much work goes into it and the finer details. The work to build up the trees, bushes and flowers is wonderful and it does look very real, whether you are looking at them from near or afar.

Finer details added.

Both the swans were added along with the reed beds and boats in the background. The castles had roofs added to their turrets, and flag poles.

Bed 'Ole Castle painting all done.

Final details added are flags on flag poles, sails on the boats, brick work added to the castle walls, and tiles on the roofs. You can sit and pick out all the other things added and look in wonderment at how wonderful it looks. Both Keith and I absolutely love the work Tina has done so far. She will be doing some of the roses next so keep watching the diary for those pictures.Roger in the meantime has also been very busy with the rest of Hadar's fit out. He made and fitted the door panels for the doors into the hold. He has also been adding the edging strips around the timber work.

Doors into thehold.

Our stove plinth was tiled with quarry tiles from the yard, they looked nice and aged. The wall tiles have a picture of Coniston hand painted on them, and although they were quite expensive at £8 each hand painted tile, they look fabulous and our only major extravagance. Once the stove is fitted into place it will look amazing.

Tiled Stove Plinth.

Roger then set about varnishing all the woodwork in the saloon and making the stable doors which are going between the engine room and galley. We chose stable doors so that we can have the bottom doors closed to keep Paddy (collie) shut in, but have the top doors open for ventilation when on the move. This past week has been wonderful and very interesting especially for me as I was given the opportunity to sit in and watch Tina paint. I did make sure I thanked her for allowing me this priviledge because I am well aware that not all boat painters would do this. So please always ask first.Once all the paintwork is complete in the boatmans cabin I will make up an album of each stage, so you can sit and browse at your leisure LOL. So another week of excitement has drawn to a close ready for another to begin, and you can follow each step with us by coming back again next week to see the next installment.

Friday, February 09, 2007

The last 2 cupboards have now been fitted in the saloon. This now completes all the major carpentry.

Tina has nearly completed the graining of the scumbling in the boatman's cabin. Once all the graining has been completed it will all need a couple of coats of varnish.

Keith has been resting as he put his back out on Tuesday, Ouch!! Still it is getting better.

Cupboard Table Grained and Knotted.

On Tuesday Roger and I took a trip to Nettlebank Granite People, in Stoke-on-Trent to select the granite for our worktops in the galley. Keith and I had already decided on the Emerald Pearl Granite, and thankfully Nettlebank did have some in stock, so now we wait for it to be cut and polished to fit our galley.